1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an automotive vehicle and more particularly to an arrangement for mounting the engine on the chassis thereof so that engine vibration induced resonance within the cabin is reduced.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a known arrangement, a buffer rod has been added to the normal engine mounting arrangement for increasing the stiffness of the engine mounting in an effort to reduce the vibration transmitted to the vehicle body from the engine, which vibration tends to induce annoying noise and/or resonance within the vehicle cabin during frequently used middle engine speed operating conditions. However, this arrangement has failed to be effective in that, to avoid the buffer rod per se from unwantedly resonating during middle and high speed operation, it is necessary to select the vibrational characteristics so that the resonance frequency thereof is above the maximum frequency of the vibration from the engine during high speed operation, which in turn has lead to the phenomenon that the vibrational force transmitted to the vehicle body through the normal engine mounts and through the buffer rod re-enforce each other to actually increase the noise and/or resonance within the vehicle cabin. Accordingly, it has been necessary to increase the mass and the size of the elastomeric members used in the engine mountings, which in turn, makes the disposition of same within a crowded engine compartment difficult and increases the overall weight of the vehicle. Further, this measure has proven to be only partly effective.